A Work in Progress
by It'sMadUpstairs
Summary: These are short pieces from a Downton Abbey rewrite I'm doing. Let me know what you think.
1. April 1919

This is a part of a complete Downton Abbey rewrite, exploring the story lines that I feel had so much potential but were left by the wayside. In this version, Edith marries Anthony Strallan in late 1914. They are married happily for five years until his death from the Spanish flu. Edith's position as a keeper of her own household will serve as a source of confidence in her future dealings with Robert, her relationship with Michael Gregson, and her writing career.

 _April 1919._

 _Loxley was a good place for living. Not so large as Downton, it was dignified while retaining a sense of warmth. It was also a good place for mourning, having plenty of nooks and sitting places hidden from the taunting sun._

 _Born second, noticed last, married first, Edith Crawley Strallan was not one to fight the inevitable. She had learned early in her childhood that things often did not go her way. Her first love ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere off the coast of Maine. Her second love, and first reciprocated, made it back from the war relatively unscathed, but that did not much matter now._

 _Anthony Strallan lay on the grand bed he usually shared with his wife, a practice he unwittingly shared with his in-laws. His skin radiated with the fever that sent the blood pounding through his temples for days. His right hand, clammy to the touch, was held by his wife. Looking at her, Anthony was once again amused that he had won over such a lovely young woman while he was in the middle of life, when he had not been considered such a prize even in his youth._

" _You remind me of Maud when we first married. She was very funny. Not a lot of people saw that but she was." he'd said to her, on their first drive through the countryside in the months before the war. Looking back, discussing his late wife might not have been the best way of wooing, but Edith had understood what he meant. She always understood what he meant._

 _In a few hours he would be gone. Lady Edith Strallan would be the acting baronet of Loxley. Their son would be without a father for the majority of his life. She thought of him now, in the nursery where she'd left him with his aunts. Anthony opened his eyes after a long blink, "You gave me my life back you know?" Edith leaned in, resting their joined hands under her chin. "And you are very funny. Maybe a lot of people don't see that. But I do." Anthony Strallan chuckled and exhaled deeply. For now, Edith sat by the bed and held his hand, with him being grateful she had given him his life back and she thinking that he was very funny._


	2. June 1919

_June 1919_

Lilac was a nice color to wear to a spring wedding, which was fortunate for her. Typically, Edith would not have traveled so soon but her sister's wedding was cause enough to bend the rules of mourning. She could not say that it was a happy day for her, though she was happy for Sybil, despite the unusual choice of groom. Looking out the corner of her eye, she caught Mary's. They were both in mourning of sorts. Edith Strallan was widowed at the age of 28 while Mary Crawley was an engaged woman in desperate want of freedom. Both their cloudy thoughts were interrupted by their new brother-in-law.

"It's time for the groom to dance with his sister-in-law," Branson, no _Tom_ , said extending his arm to Mary. "And I don't see a way out of it for you either Edith."

Surprisingly, Mary laughed in a genuine, if haughty way. Lady Mary Crawley accepted the hand of her brother-in-law, the former Downton chauffeur, and went to the center of the dance floor. Another young man, who Edith recognized as one of Tom's younger brothers all but skipped up to her.

"May I have this dance m'lady?" He said it in a jesting manner, but not meant to be rude. Edith accepted his arm like Mary had done with Tom.

Once on the dancefloor, Edith tried to feel as light as she could. She certainly had enough experience pretending to be content.

"Do you not care for weddings Lady Edith?" the younger Branson asked.

"Oh no, I do." She wondered if she should just let it be. Though not talking about it seemed to be more tiring than speaking.

"This is the first happy event I've attended since my husband passed."

Michael Branson flinched a bit. "I'm very sorry, Lady Edith, I wasn't thinking. Tom and Sybil told me about Sir Anthony but-"

"Please, don't worry about it," Edith interrupted. "It's nice to dance again."


	3. Remorse

_Confession_

 _An overarching theme of this rewrite will be Robert facing actual consequences for his actions. I've decided to have him confess to Cora about his fling with the maid shortly after Mary and Matthew's wedding. Robert's role in Sybil's health crisis so soon afterwards (Sybils ALWAYS Lives) will push Cora past her point of toleration and there will be a temporary separation._

 _While Mary and Matthew are on their honeymoon:_

Robert: Please say something.

Cora: What would you like me to say?

Robert: I don't know. But say something, please.

Cora: Well, it's not as though such things are uncommon. Though I thought our marriage was of a different sort .

Robert: It is.

Cora: Is it? Because apparently, the second I get the slightest bit preoccupied, you run off and start petting the maid.

Robert: Cora-

Cora: And all of this while you were accusing Sybil of degrading herself and Tom of seducing her.

Robert: _not sure what he says, maybe nothing_

Cora: We don't have time to talk about this now. Let's just get through dinner.

 _I'm going to include some more dialogue that acknowledges how common affairs between upper class men and female staff were, but make clear Cora is not impressed by this fact._

 _Remorse_

He thought he had done what was best for her. Really. She was his baby, just as she was Cora's. He hadn't embraced her as he should have when she got out of the car, arriving for Mary's wedding, but it had been such a shock to see her that way. Of course, he had known his youngest daughter was to be the mother of his second grandchild, but seeing her was altogether a different thing. Sybil was glowing, her new shorter hair bobbing around her jawline, moving a little slower as she was helped out of the car. Robert's eyes couldn't help but go down to the hand that was helping her. The hand of the chauffeur. All the hours in the library with his brandy he'd spent preparing himself seemed to vanish when he saw it, the proof that she was not coming back. Not coming back Sybil Crawley anyway. He'd told Mary once, "You are my beloved daughter, and that is a difficult thing for an Englishman to admit." That was true is the easiest of times. So Robert had shown his love the way he usually did, by supplying the best. Sir Phillip Tapsell was known as the best.

Had this all been in motion then? Was the blood already rushing too quickly through her veins, swelling her fingers and ankles?

Cora seemed to avoid looking at him and when she did, he wished she hadn't. Her face was as though she was looking at a stranger, one whom she'd only ever heard ill things of. Couldn't she see his pain too? Couldn't his wife feel that it was the same as her's? Mary and Violet were warmer to him than the rest. When his eldest daughter came to see him in the library and tell him that Branson would be staying at Crawley House while Sybil was in the hospital, she had a peculiar look in her eyes. It was a look that, had it been seen in another person's face, would have been called pity. What did Mary pity her father for? For the blame that was being bestowed on him? Or for his own stupidity?

He waited outside Sybil's room in the hospital for hours. Cora, the girls, his mother, Branson, even Matthew and Isobel shuffled in and out over the course of the first days. Dr. Clarkson, whose word had more or less become law, was adamant that only one visitor at a time see Sybil. However, when he stood to go into the room he was promptly stopped by the nurse telling him that visiting hours were over. So there he was, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham standing in the hallway with the door to his daughter's sickroom shut in his face. Cora was punishing him, he knew it.

As for his granddaughter, he had only seen her in glimpses while she was being carried from her mother's bedside or transferred between the arms of Branson, Cora, and his eldest daughters. He had hoped that he and Cora could reach a common ground when they asked if the child might stay in the Downton nursery. Branson, however, insisted that the newborn stay under the same roof with him at Crawley House. After all, Isobel could provide the basic medical care she needed if necessary. Robert's heart sank further when Cora conceded her agreement so quickly. Edith also nodded in agreement, "Tom's right. With Isobel she will be in good hands." Mary and Matthew concurred. Mary and Edith, two girls who fought over every toy, dress, and scrape of attention since infancy, were in agreement against him. An bad omen if there ever was one.


	4. Turkish Diplomacy

_Here's the scene on which so many story lines hinge. Many viewers and fanfiction readers feel that the encounter between Mary and Pamuk was tantamount to a rape. And they're right. Many people also think that Julian Fellowes did this intentionally. They're wrong. I've read Fellowes' notes in the script books and he intended for Pamuk to come off as roguish and charming. He has no idea that Pamuk's lines are coercive and threatening. Since the story line was intended to be that of a consensual encounter, that's how I'm directing. I've adjusted the dialogue to make Mary's consent much more obvious. It's by no means perfect. I hope to get feedback on how to further improve the scene, and make Mary's first sexual experience the darkly comic (what with her lover dying and all) adventure it was meant to be._

 _Words in italics are stage directions or my own changes._

 _Pamuk enters Mary's room. She immediately rises and covers herself with the sheet. Her face is shocked, but slightly amused._

 _While the dialogue is largely the same, imagine Mary having a much more confident posture and the back and forth between delivered like banter._

Mary: You must be mad.

Pamuk: I am. I'm in the grip of madness.

Mary: You need to go. At once. Or I'll-

(She hesitates)

Pamuk: Or you'll what?

Mary: I'll scream.

Pamuk: _You could._

Mary: I'll ring the bell.

Pamuk: _That's another option._

 _Mary can't help but smile._

Mary: Do you have any idea what you're asking? I could be ruined if they know we'd even had this conversation. Let alone if…

Pamuk: Don't worry, you would still be a virgin for your husband.

Mary: Heavens. Is this a proposal?

Pamuk: Alas, no. I don't think your family our union would please your family.

Mary: I'm afraid not.

Pamuk: Or mine.

 _Fix the "still be a virgin" explanation. The vial of blood thing (check the script book) is just plain weird._

Mary: You and my parents have something in common.

Pamuk: Oh?

Mary: You believe I'm more of a rebel than I am.

 _Pamuk smiles sheepishly/roguishly and exhales._

 _Pamuk: Well, I see I've met with defeat. Goodnight Lady Mary._

 _He turns to leave._

 _Mary: Wait…_

 _She reaches out a touches his arm…_

 _***Cora, Anna, and Mary have finished moving Pamuk's body back to his room. Even though this is 1913, I always felt that Cora seemed uncharacteristically nasty to Mary in this scene. This version will be less "slut shaming"._

 _Cora: I don't think I can every forget what you put me through tonight._

Mary: But you won't tell Papa.

 _Cora: Since it would probably give him his own heart attack, I will not._ But I keep the secret for his sake, not for yours.

Mary: Yes, Mama.

 _Cora: Anna, I am sorry that Lady Mary wrapped you up in this. And now I will say goodnight._

 _Anna leaves._

Mary: She won't betray us. Cora: I'm sure she won't. It pains me to say it, but this morning I find that I can _rely on_ a housemaid more than my own child.


	5. Fall 1916

_Branson,_

 _I'm writing with the last of my energy as the day has sucked it all from me, but I could not wait until the morning lest sleep wipes the details from my memory. I helped amputate a foot today. That's a strange thing to write. The poor fellow it was attached to said he was glad to be rid of it, having turned quite an unnatural color. I know that Papa assumed once I saw any blood I would want to come home (and Mama likely hoped) but I must say that my stomach proved quite strong. The matron and the surgeon both commented on the steadiness of my hands. And to think I was never very good at sewing._

 _It feels good to talk about these things with a friend. I would never expect Mary and Edith to listen to me prattle on about learning different types of stitches or refilling medicines. We are still friends, aren't we Branson? I hate to think that anything should be awkward between us._

 _How are things at Downton? Mama, Mary, and Edith write to me but you never know what they leave out and I'd like to know how everyone is getting on downstairs. How is Anna doing? I know she is probably quite sad about Bates leaving. I wonder what persuaded him to go and if there might be anything that might persuade him back._

 _Now I must retire, as I have to be up early tomorrow and do not want to fall asleep at my desk with the lamp still on._

 _Your friend,_

 _Sybil Crawley_


	6. Summer 1920

_Here are some blurbs of change I've made starting with Season 3 Episode 4. Rather than struggling with what to do with herself after getting left at the alter, Edith is trying to cope with motherhood while grieving and running Loxley._

 _I've also changed the circumstances under which Tom and Sybil have to leave Ireland. After doing research, I've come to believe Julian Fellowes story line is both historically inaccurate as well as out of character for Tom. Instead, Tom and Sybil flee to Downton to avoid being questioned about Tom's journalistic sources, some of whom are tied to the burning of British homes. In reality, numerous British homes were destroyed after the inhabitants were forced out. What Julian Fellowes fails to mention even once in the series or script books, are how many Irish homes were burned by the British military, with people still inside them._

Season 3 Script Book

Pg 114

Violet: How are you?

Edith: Being widowed at 28? Yes, it is horrid. Multiplied by ten thousand _when Andrew has a nightmare and I'm hopeless at comforting him. Anthony was so much better at that._

 _Violet: That's what nannies are for._

 _Edith: Truth be told, I think I get more comfort from Andrew than he gets from me._

Pg 118

 _Tom arrives at Downton alone in the middle of the night._

Mary: Tom. What's happened? Where's Sybil?

Tom: _She's not here yet?_

 _Edith steps into the room._

 _Tom: I had to get away. I sent her ahead of me._

 _Edith: I talked to her on the phone an hour ago._

 _Tom: Then she'll be on her way by now._

Pg 120

Tom: _Apparently_ they turned everyone out of the castle, Lord and Lady Drumgoole, their sons and all the servants, and then they set fire to it.

Edith: What a tragedy.

Violet: Well yes and no. That house was hideous. But of course that is not excuse.

Robert: No. It is not.

Matthew: But what was your involvement?

Tom: Who says I was involved?

Mary: Well you seem to know a lot about it if you weren't.

Cora: And why are you running away? And what was Sybil's part in all this?

Tom: She's not involved. Not at all. But they think _one of my sources was an instigator._

Mary: So the police are looking for you?

Tom: _We decided it was best to leave before they do. Even if they only bring me in for questioning, there's no promise they'd let me leave._

Cora: You mean you gave them Sybil while you saved yourself?

Tom: _No! I sent her ahead but she missed the last ferry._

 _Edith: I told you I spoke to her on the phone Mama. She'll be here in the morning._

Robert: _What was the purpose of this?_ For the fun of seeing private property destroyed?

Tom: Those places are different for _us._ I don't look at them and see charm and gracious living. I see something horrible.

Violet: With Drumgoole Castle I rather agree.

Robert: Mama, you are not helping.

Tom: _I'm sorry for the family, I am. But I couldn't give the police anything that would get the Republicans shot. You don't know what these people have been through._

Pg 129

 _Sybil arrives at Downton._

Cora: Tom, how could you have let her go alone, to fend for herself?

Sybil: It wasn't like that. We thought something like this might happen we'd decided what to do. _I missed the ferry and took a room for the night._ The question is, what now?

Pg 130

 _Family is in library discussing Tom's situation._

Tom: I can never go back to Ireland? That's impossible.

Robert: If you do, you'll be arrested.

Cora: Surely they need proof, to ban a man from his own country?

 _I cut Tom attending meetings where arson was planned. I always felt it was out of character and a stereotypical way for Julian Fellowes to make a progressive character look crazy and violent._

Tom: I was always against personal violence.

Violet: Oh, so at least we can sleep in our beds.

Robert: Maybe. But you were not against the violent destruction of property.

Tom: I've told you. _I've had no part in it, but I would not give names even if I knew them. Better destruction of property than the destruction of people, and that is what would have happened._

 _Robert opens his mouth to speak._

 _Tom: And if you don't believe me, you can call your friend back at the Home Office and ask._

Matthew: So what _information could you get_ from the Home Secretary?

Robert: _They don't have any evidence tying him to a crime._ And with Sybil, they think they could have another Maud Gonne on their hands, or Lady Gregory, or worse if they're not careful.

Violet: Lady Gregory, Countess of Markievicz-why are the Irish rebels so well born.

Robert: Whatever the reason, I don't want Lady Sybil Branson to join their ranks. Mercifully, neither do the Irish authorities. If Tom can stay away _and not draw attention to himself_ they will leave him alone.

 _Note: I'm also going to have Sybil and Tom encourage Edith with her writing. Looking through the script books, there's a whole dinner scene with the family talking about Edith writing to a newspaper regarding suffrage and neither Tom nor Sybil have any lines._


	7. Fall 1914

_October 1914_

 _No one would have thought it, herself included, that she would be the first Crawley girl to be married. But she stood there in the bedroom she had slept in since she was 12, stealing glances into the mirror on her vanity as if to make sure it was her own reflection she caught dressed in ecru lace and the Dowager's pearls. There were people from the village, London, all over Yorkshire waiting in the Downton village chapel who had come to see the wedding of Lady Edith Crawley, the second daughter of the Earl and Countess of Grantham to Sir Anthony Strallan, Baronet of Loxley._

 _The staff came outside to see her off, lining up as they did when greeting an honorable guest. Even the kitchen maid had snuck away in order to peak out one of the lower windows to watch Edith get packed into the Renault with her long white train. It was a lovely day in the Yorkshire autumn. No one would have guessed that the war across the Channel, which so many had said would be over by Christmas, was growing in ferocity. It was a wartime wedding, but still a society one. The photographer asked for the Crawley girls to gather together outside the chapel._

 _"There's the last image of us all as free women," Mary said, with her camera-smile still set on her face. The eldest Crawley girl turned to her sister._

 _"I know we've fought more often than not, but I wish you all the happiness in the world." Mary said to Edith. Edith raised her eyebrows. Mary quickly adopted her frequently used look of exasperation._

 _"What? I do." Mary rolled her eyes and kissed Edith quickly on the cheek, Sybil laughing behind them._

 _1915_

 _Breakfast table at Downton_

 _Carson: M'lady, Lady Strallan has requested to you come to see her._

 _Mary: My, this is unprecedented. (Classic Mary eyebrow lift)_

 _Mary is shown into the drawing room at Loxley, where she finds Edith alone. Her sister, heavily pregnant, is sitting on a chaise lounge with a large blanket on her lap._

 _Mary: Well this invitation was a surprise._

 _Edith knows what she wants to say. She sits straight, which is not exactly comfortable in her condition._

 _Edith: I want you to look after things when the baby is coming._

 _Mary: What?_

 _Edith: Someone needs to have a cool head...especially if anything should go wrong, and as much as I love Anthony, he can get a bit overwhelmed._

 _Mary just stars._

 _Edith: I just need someone to speak with Dr. Clarkson and be a go-between with Anthony and the family if any decisions need to be made._

 _Mary is shocked before realizing that she shouldn't be. She understands._

 _Mary: Alright. You can count on my cool head and cold heart._

 _One Month Later_

 _While Edith is in labor:_

 _Mary and Sybil are on either side of her. Edith is squeezing their hands; all their knuckles are white._

 _Edith: I can't believe Mama did this three times! She must be out of her mind!_

 _A few hours later_

 _Edith is holding her son, wrapped up tightly. Mary peers over to look at his face and run a finger over his forehead._

 _Mary: What women would give for skin this lovely._

 _Edith and Sybil laugh very softly._

 _Sybil: How do you feel?_

 _Edith: Wonderful. And like I've been hit by a lorry._

 _The new mother gives the newborn a kiss on the forehead._

 _Edith: I'm so glad to meet you Andrew._


	8. 1921

Season Three

Christmas Special

 _Everything in italics are my own invention or stage directions._

 _After Sybil's near-fatal illness following childbirth, Cora and Robert separate. Cora moves into Grantham House in London (inviting Sybil, Tom, and the baby to join her), a result of the building tensions in their marriage. The separation lasts at least one year, but Cora makes the trip to Duneagle with the family to keep up appearances._

 _Tom and Sybil have stayed at Downton while the rest of the family are at Duneagle._

Pg 257 Family is at the train station leaving for Duneagle. Violet sees Tom _and Sybil_ talking to Robert.

Violet: Do you think it's wise? To leave _them_ here unsupervised?

Cora: What do you mean?

Violet: _Well, you don't suppose they'll attempt to stage a leftist coup while we're gone? And we'll return to find Downton converted into some sort of commune?_

 _Isobel: Well, I've invited them to dinner tonight._

Violet: Oh well. That's one day taken care of of. Only nine to go.

Isobel: _Tom is not a revolutionary; you should know that by now._

Violet: _Tom is not the one I'm worried about._

Pg 292

 _Tom and Sybil's bedroom. Edna walks in._

Tom: What in the -?

Edna: I thought you might want to know Mr. Barrow is feeling much better.

Tom: Thank you. But you should go.

Edna: I just wanted to tell you what a lovely day I had. Shall we meet for lunch tomorrow? In the Grantham Arms?

 _She kisses him before he can say anything._

 _Sybil walks in._

 _Sybil: I don't think Mr. Branson will be able to meet you tomorrow; he'll be otherwise engaged._

 _Edna: M'lady, I -_

 _Sybil: I do not care how you finish that sentence. My husband already asked that you go. Please go._

 _Edna walks out quickly._

 _Tom looks slightly terrified. Sybil glares at him for a moment before laughing, pecking him on the cheek._

Pg 293

 _Phone Call that Mary and Anna are coming back early._ _Sybil appears at the entrance to staff kitchen._

 _Sybil: Mrs. Hughes, I'm sorry to barge in but could I have a quick word?_

 _Cut to Mrs. Hughes' office. Sybil has told her the story._

 _Mrs. Hughes: Oh my._

 _Sybil: That was one of the thoughts I had at the time._

 _Mrs. Hughes: Well, she'll have to go._

 _Sybil: Oh yes._

 _She chuckles._

 _Sybil: Poor Tom. He looked so awkward from what I saw through the door. And then when he saw me he looked positively terrified. It was sweet really._

 _Cut to Carson's office_

 _Carson: She WHAT?_

 _Mrs. Hughes: Before you get going, Lady Sybil already explained it was one-sided._

 _Carson: Regardless, she'll have to go._

 _Scene between Tom and Mrs. Hughes. In rewrite, conversation is between Mrs. Hughes and Sybil._

Sybil: Would you write her a decent reference?

Mrs. Hughes: _raised eyebrows_

 _Sybil: It's hard to be a working woman and I don't want to be the reason one is hungry. It's more for myself than for her._

Mrs. Hughes: I will. Though I don't think she's cut out to be a housemaid. May I say something, if you don't mind _m'lady_?

 _Sybil nods._

Mrs. Hughes: Edna tried to make _Mr. Branson_ ashamed of his new life, but _he's_ done well and _he_ should be proud. _I am._

 _Sybil smiles._

 _Sybil: You know, there's something I always wondered about. Why didn't you say anything to anyone after the garden party, the one before the war?_

 _Mrs. Hughes opens her mouth to speak but no words come out._

 _Sybil: I know you saw; he didn't let go of my hand after we let go of Gwen's, after she spun of both around she was so happy she got that job. And I didn't let go of his. If you had said something to Carson or my father, Tom would have been gone the next day. Why didn't you?_

 _Mrs. Hughes: I didn't think...Oh I don't know._

 _Sybil smiles again._

 _Sybil: Well, it may be quite delayed, but thank you for your discretion._

 _Mrs. Hughes: You're welcome, m'lady._


	9. The Days After

_In Julian Fellowes' version, I thought it was insulting how Robert's culpability was covered up in order to get Cora to forgive him. Furthermore, Robert wasn't just forgiven, he was absolved. This what I don't understand when I read things about Robert Crawley's "redemption arc". He didn't have one; he never faced consequences for his actions or decisions (keeping Sybil's condition and Clarkson's advice from Tom because the thought of deferring to an ex-employee was beneath him; bringing the family to financial ruin; screwing around on his wife while she was ill, etc...). Instead, a conspiracy of lies was orchestrated so that this privileged grown man wouldn't have to examine his actions or admit responsibility for them. "Mommy" bails him out. Sybil's grave was pissed on so that Robert wouldn't have to have anyone angry at him. I felt it was beyond offensive. But those are two of Julian Fellowes' trademarks: writing drastic plot turns for drama and then not wanting to deal with the aftermath and men of privilege destroying the lives of others without lasting consequence for their own._

 _Anyway...In this revision, Violet will not be an apologist for Robert. Talking to Clarkson, she confirms his role in Sybil's condition and decides to let the aftermath unfold naturally. Sybil will make her recovery and the family relationships will heal slowly in their own time._

 _As usual, words in italics are my own alterations or stage directions._

Season 3, Episode 6

Pg 177

 _Violet goes to see Clarkson as she does in canon. In this version, Sybil has stabilized but it still unconscious. More research will be done for medical accurracy._

Clarkson: You wanted to speak to me Lady Grantham.

Violet: Yes. On a troubling matter, I'm afraid.

Clarkson: How can I help?

Violet: I want to talk a little more about the condition of my granddaughter.

Clarkson: A terrible, terrible circumstance.

Violet: But now I am concerned beyond that.

Clarkson: Oh. Are you worried for the child?

Violet: No, not especially. No. She seems quite a tough little thing.

Clarkson: Are you fond of babies?

Violet: Of course.

Clarkson: What's your favorite age?

Violet: About sixteen.

Clarkson: So how can I help?

Violet: Dr. Clarkson, my daughter-in-law is quite convinced you could have prevented this altogether had you been allowed.

Clarkson: Well, one can never speak of these things with certainty.

Violet: Well, that is the point. What was the likelihood of Sybil's coming through smoothly?

Clarkson: Had we started treatment earlier? It might have been avoided. There are cases when intervention saved the mother after pre-eclampsia.

Violet: How many cases?

Clarkson: I'll have to do some research.

Violet: Then can you do it?

Clarkson: It was the way SIr Philip set his face against any-

Violet: Sir Philip Tapsell is a vain and tiresome man. We won't quarrel over him. However, the fact remains that a division has been created between my son and his wife, when the only way to weather this storm is to face it together.

Clarkson: So you want me to lie and tell them Lady Sybil's condition was inevitable?

Violet: 'Lie' is so unmusical a word. I want you to review the evidence, honestly and without bias.

Clarkson: Lady Grantham, I can philosophize about the meaning of 'lies', but if I tell her ladyship that her daughter's suffering was inevitable, that is what it would be.

Violet: Well, I asked you for candor. I suppose I have to thank you for it.


	10. Chapter 10

Rewrite of Season 3, Episodes 7 and 8. Sybil has begun her recovery. Cora has decided to go to Grantham House in London.

Chapter Text

Season 3, Episode 7

Pg 194

*Cora watches nanny push the baby in the stroller. Cora's bags are being packed to go to London. Sybil has woken up but is still in the hospital.

Robert: Has Branson said anything more about moving out? Once Sybil's well again?

Cora: How can he move out before he's found a job? How can you want him to?

*Cora might have Tom, Sybil, and the baby come to London with her. Sybil can finish recuperating under the supervision of a specialist and Tom can look for a job.

Pg 197

*Mary walks into the nursery and finds Tom.

Mary: How's the christening going?

Tom: It's all arranged at the Catholic Church in Ripon.

Mary: Oh good, Mama can attend before she goes to London. And please give them a chance to behave properly.

TOm: I wondered if you'd be her godmother?

Mary: Am I allowed to be?

Tom: As long as one godparent is Catholic, and my brother's coming over. He'll stay in the village.

Mary: No, he won't. He'll stay here.

Tom: He's a bit of a rough diamond.

Mary: I'm very fond of diamonds.

Pg 208

* Sybil has been released from the hospital and is told to spend most of her time in her bedroom. But being Sybil, she doesn't stick to those terms very strictly. Tom's brother arrives at Downton and is in the servant's hall.

Tom: Kieran? What are doing down here? Come upstairs.

Kieran: I don't fancy it. Can I not stay put? Have my dinner down here?

Mary: But we're all so looking to meeting you Mr. Branson. If you come up with us, you can see your room and get changed...If you want to.

Kieran: And what would I change into? A pumpkin?

*The servant's laugh.

Kieran: Come on Tommy. Can we not eat down here? They seem a nice ot. What's the matter? You too grand for them now?

Tom: They know I'm not, but my mother-in-law has been kind enough to invite you to stay and dine. And I'll not let you snub her. Now, get a move on.

*Sybil appears at the door behind Tom and Mary.

Kieran: There she is!

*He stands up to kiss Sybil on the cheek.

Kieran: You're the only one I came here to see, you know.

*Sybil laughs.

Sybil: I know. But your niece will be disappointed. She was looking forward to meeting her uncle.

Kieran: Well, I should head up then. I can never disappoint a lady.

*The four of them head upstairs.

Pg 210

Dinner.

Kieran: We've rooms over the garage and a cottage next door. And we can get one of the cousins over, to help with little Sybbie. There's a bit of a park not too far away.

Sybil: That could be a big help once I go back to work.

*This gets stars from Violet, Cora, and Robert.

Matthew: Robert, are you coming? (to the christening)

Robert: Tom doesn't want me there, and I wouldn't know what to do. All that crossing and bobbing up and down. I went to a Mass once in Rome and it was more like a gymnastic display.

*No one laughs except for Kieran.

Sybil: I would like you to be there.

Tom: Both of us would, very much.

Pg 212

Cora: You're the one pushing Tom and Sybil into his brother's arms.

Robert: I've done my best to be welcoming.

Cora sighs.

Cora: I'm sure.

Episode 8

Pg 220

Discussing the cricket match.

Robert: But didn't you play last year?

Sybil: We were living in Ireland last year Papa.

Tom: The fact is I've never played cricket.

Robert: But couldn't you try?

Edith: Papa, stop being such a bully. Let's just have a nice dinner.

Pg 224

*This conversation can take place in London. Cora has invited Mary, Matthew, Tom and Sybil to stay for a few days before she invites them to stay for as long as they like. Tom will be the "acting" agent at Downton and can split time between the estate and London.

Tom: If our plan works, we'll be farming a third of the estate directly.

Cora: And you can manage that?

Tom: We think so, but we need you to think so too, because Lord Grantham definitely won't.

Mary: Are you drawing up the battle lines?

Cora: Poor Robert. The postwar world is not being kind to him. At least not as kind as the pre-war world was.

*Line can stay the same if delivered from perspective of estranged wife, not simpering like on the show.

Mary: How are you getting on in the agent's house? I hope Jarvis didn't leave it a wreck.

Tom: No, not at all. But the furniture was his, so we'll be living in a state of Trappist simplicity for a while.

Sybil: I'm sure there's some stuff in the attic. We'll have a look.

Cora: What about Sybbie? Won't it be lonely for her? With you two and no one else for company?

Sybil : I think it's right for us.

*Tom is summoned away by Matthew, leaving Cora and Sybil to talk.

Cora: You could stay here.

Sybil: Mama-

Cora: Just hear me out. Tom can look for work at a paper. You can look for a job at a hospital.

Sybil: My, you are desperate for us to join you.

Cora: It can be a fresh start.

Pg 227

Carson and Mrs. Hughes discussing what to do about Thomas after he gets caught kissing Jimmy. Rather than deciding whether to write him a reference or not (I can't see Carson actually getting blackmailed by Jimmy), it's about whether he should stay or go. I'm also going to make Thomas' pursuit of Jimmy less creepy.

Carson: I'm only sorry you had to listen to the sorry tale.

Mrs. Hughes: Why? Do you think Thomas is the first man of that sort that I've ever come across?

*Carson raises his eyebrows

Mrs. Hughes: Well, he isn't. And I'll tell you something else. I think Thomas might have been led on.

Carson: What?!

Mrs. Hughes: Oh calm down. Not by James. But he is a vain and silly flirt, and O'Brien may have seized an opportunity to win their little feud.

Pg 250

*Cricket Match. Cora has come to the match to keep up appearances. Tom and Sybil accept her offer to stay in London with her.

Cora: Are you settled in at the agent's house?

Tom: Yes, I think we're getting comfortable.

Cora: Sybil says she's feeling back to normal.

Tom: I asked her a few too many times. She told me Sybbie's done just fine without a nanny so far, she doesn't need one either.

*They both laugh.

Cora: I know the agent job isn't exactly what you were hoping to do.

Tom: I'm very grateful-

Cora: It's alright. I'm assuming Sybil told you I've asked what the two of you would think of coming to stay with me in London.

Tom: It's quite an offer.

Cora: You can look for a job at another newspaper. Sybil could even look for work at a hospital and I can make sure I'm Sybbie's favorite.

*Tom smiles.

Tom: I'll speak to Sybil.

Cora: Good.


	11. April 1912

_Note: Italics are my own alterations and original writing, while regular script is from the official script books._

 _April 1912_

 _In Mary, Robert saw more of himself than in his other children. They had both been brought up with an inherent sense of duty. It was a duty to the estate and the family, to Downton. And like he had done a quarter of a century earlier, Mary had been willing to marry for the good of the estate. Since Mary could not be the Lord of the manor, she would be its Lady. Robert saw no reason why Mary could not be happy with Patrick. He had been happy with Cora, for all the business-like aspects to the start of their marriage. Besides, a marriage between Mary and Patrick was sensible, and Mary was above all, a sensible person._

 _"_ Will I have to go into full mourning? _"_

 _Her question threw him for a moment._

 _"_ My first cousin and his son are almost certainly dead. We will all go into mourning _."_

 _"_ No, I mean about the other thing…After all, it wasn't official _." Mary seemed almost embarrassed by the question, but in great need of an answer._

" If you're asking if you will have to mourn Patrick as a fiance, well that is up to you."

"No one knew about it outside the family."

"I repeat, that is up to you."

"Well, that's a relief". _The Earl watched his eldest daughter walk out of the library and up the stairs, presumably to find something flattering in black._

 _Mary had been willing to marry Patrick. Or at least, she had been willing to become engaged to him. There was no pretense between her and Patrick. He had known that he was in line for the earldom and Mary would inherit the position that she, and possibly others, saw as rightfully hers. With Patrick gone, Mary was unsettled and that was a feeling she had never much liked. She had one less option. However, Mary could not deny, to herself and perhaps Sybil, that this came with some measure of relief. Could she have actually gone through with it? Slept next to Patrick, or the room next door at least, for decades? Have his children and fulfill all of her other duties as his wife? And then there was Edith._


	12. Changing of the Guard

_1926_

 _The surgeon let him go home after a day; there was no point keeping him in the hospital. Robert Crawley had told his new hier, shortly after their meeting, that he hoped to die at Downton. After the examination and every test there was to be done, Clarkson's successor decided to give the Earl his wish._

 _For the younger staff, it was an exercise in grace under awkwardness. The delayed grief hung in the air like the curtains in the family bedrooms. Mrs. Hughes was grateful for her husband's retirement. Carson would not know what to make of being the butler of a Downton where Robert Crawley was not the Earl. Barrow was commanding the ship well, Mrs. Hughes was not surprised to say. The new general of the downstairs was vigilant; these days of his career would be remembered by the staff. Times of overturning are always remembered the most clearly; with Dr. Clarkson's retirement and Barrow's succession of Carson's post, they were all waiting, this third changing of the guard._

 _There was a terrible moment of awkwardness when one of the younger hallboys asked if Dr. Branson, whom he had never seen, would be eating with in his room, not knowing that said gentleman was the third daughter of His Lordship. It was one of those rare moments when Barrow was a more benevolent figure than Carson would have been._

 _The Dowager Countess, one who's position would not be changing, although she was soon to be the elder of two, had been a guest in the big house for a number of days. She had done the same for the births of each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Only the birth of the first member of the newest generation rivaled the solemnity of today. It was puzzling in situations like these as to who the chief mourner would be: the mother or the wife. Then again, grief did not have a winner._

 _Down the hall in the nursery, four cousins kept each other company. All had been brought to from their perspective homes to the Abbey for the time being. The eldest, Andrew Strallan, insisted that he was too old to be kept with the little ones. He was 12 after all. But his mother asked him for his help watching his younger cousins and he obliged. The young baronet had never been in a position to help before._

 _All four children, the Strallan, the Crawley, and the two Bransons had seen their grandfather when he came home from the hospital. The younger three had been happy at the news, thinking it was a sign of the Earl's return to health. Andrew knew it was not. He suspected it from the hushed tones spoken between his mother and his aunts, and knew it beyond doubt when he saw his mother and aunt Mary embrace. Aunt Mary had spotted him over Edith's shoulder and tried to smile as best she could._

" _How is my favorite nephew?'_

 _Andrew half smiled. "I'm your only nephew, Aunt Mary."_

" _Well then you know I'm being honest," she said. She did have a point. Aunt Mary seldom said things just to be nice if they weren't true._

 _Walking out into the hall, Andrew all but walked into his mother carrying what looked like a mass of bed clothes. They were stained with tiny red flecks. What was oddest of all was seeing her carrying laundry._

" _Sweetheart, why don't you take your cousins down to the kitchen? I'm sure Mrs. Patmore has something sweet for all of you," said Edith._

" _Yes Mum."_


	13. Aftermath

Season Three, Episode Six

 _Crawley House_

 _*Isobel returns from the village hospital._

Ethel: How _is Lady Sybil doing?_

 _Isobel: Oh, I wish I could say. She's being kept under so the fits don't come back but we don't know what will happen when she wakes up. If she can._

Ethel: I feel for her ladyship. When _it's your child and there's nothing you can do._ There's nothing worse under the sun.

Pg 167

 _*Cora and Robert's bedroom_

Robert: I thought I might move back in here tonight. If you'll have me.

Cora: Not yet. I think I'd rather sleep alone for a while yet.

Robert: Well, if you're sure…

Cora: I'm sure.

Robert: Cora-

Cora: Let's not go through it all again.

Robert: But I'm not arguing. You listened to Clarkson, and so should I have done. But Tapsell has a reputation as an expert-

Cora: And you believed him. When Doctor Clarkson knew Sybil's history and he did not. You believed Tapsell because he's knighted and fashionable and has a practice on Harley Street...You let all that nonsense weigh against saving our daughter _from all of this. Possibly still her life._ Which is what I find so very hard to forgive.

Robert: Do you think I _worry_ for her any less than you?

Cora: I should think you should _worry_ more, since you blocked the last chance we had to prevent her _illness._

 _*Robert turns to leave but hears Cora speak again._

 _Cora: To say nothing of how you acted towards Tom. Perhaps the worst thing is that I wish I could truly say I'm surprised by your behavior, but I am not._

Pg 168

* _Tom, Edith, Robert and Matthew are at the breakfast table. Tom is staying at Crawley House but is at Downton to pick up Mary and Edith to go to the hospital._

Tom: _We're_ not staying. Or at least until I find a job. _Once Sybil is healthy to travel, we'll find our own home._

Edith: Well, there's no rush.

Matthew: God, no.

Robert: Tom's right. He has to start to make a life for himself some time.

Edith: Some time, yes. But not right away. And anyway, now that _Sybil's treatment is properly underway,_ we ought to think about the christening. Do you know what you'd like her to be called?

Tom: I'd like to call her Sybil.

Matthew: _That's lovely._

Robert: You don't think that might be a little _odd?_

Tom: _Not really, sons are named for their fathers all the time._

Edith: Wonderful, I'll go and see Mr. Travis this afternoon.

Tom: Why Mr. Travis?

Edith: To fix the date.

Tom: But Sybil will be Catholic.

Robert: What?

Tom: My daughter is Irish and she'll be Catholic like her _parents._

 _*This is before Vatican II, so if Tom and Sybil got married in an actual church, she had converted. Robert can whine about this too._

Robert: It's time I started my morning.

* _What exactly does that entail? He leaves._

 _Matthew: I hope you're not staying with Mother because you don't feel welcome at the big house._

 _Tom: I don't feel particularly welcome but that doesn't bother me. I'm staying at Crawley House because I'm afraid if I spend the night under the same roof as His Lordship, I might kill him._

 _*Tom walks away._

Pg 170

* _Robert and Mary are on the grounds._

Robert: Did you hear about Branson's announcement at breakfast?

Mary: I wish you'd call him Tom.

Robert: He wants the child to be a left-footer.

Mary: Papa, I know it's hard for you-

Robert: There hasn't been a Catholic Crawley since the Reformation.

Mary: She isn't a Crawley. She's a Branson.

Robert: The only chance that child will have any chance of achieving anything in life is because of the blood of her mother.

* _Maybe Mary can throw back Robert's line from season 1: "You should be careful what you say Papa; someday someone might believe you."_

Mary: Well, I don't agree. And Sybil-

Robert: That's another thing. I think it's ghoulish to call her after Sybil. _When she hasn't woken yet._

Mary: Well, I don't.

Robert: I'm going to see Travis. Get him to come and talk to...Tom. Try and make him see sense.

* _Like you took it upon yourself to get Tapsell?_

 _*Downton Hallway:_

 _Mary turns into the hall to see Edith hanging up the phone. Edith wipes a tear from her face. Mary feels a spike of fear._

 _Edith: That was Tom. Sybil is awake._

 _Mary lets out a gasp of relief._

 _*Hospital:_

 _Sybil couldn't say that she was "awake." Her limbs did not move and her eyes did not see. But she could not recall a dream that had these sensations; the light piercing her closed eyelids or the suspicion that someone had struck her over the head with a wrench. Her breaths were coming as though she had been swimming in deep water and only just made it back up. The air was somewhat cold. Was Downton ever chilly in July?_

 _Sybil heard footsteps followed by a Scottish voice. "We will continue the treatments for several days, possibly longer if her blood pressure doesn't return to normal by then. She was very lucky."_

" _Thank you Dr. Clarkson."_

 _Tom._

 _They were having a baby. No. She already did. She held her in that little blanket and Tom called her "darling."_

" _Tom."_

 _His head snaps up and if her eyes were open she would have seen his face collapse into the most into the most exhausted smile. Sybil's voice, usually what Tom called "husky" sounded like a frog to her own ears. How long had it been since she's last spoken?_

 _The following minutes and hours weren't much more clear to Sybil than the past days had been. She opened her eyes in time to see Dr. Clarkson rush in and felt him measure her blood pressure. The curtains in the hospital room were open. "Was sunlight always so offensive?" she thought, before begging for them to be closed._

 _Sybil drifted off to sleep again. What was it about excessive sleep that made one so tired? Mary, Edith, and her parents came in. If Sybil had been more alert she might have noticed that her mother and father stood on opposite sides of her bed._


	14. The Funeral

_The funeral was a grand affair, if funerals can be described as such. People came from all over, the village, Yorkshire, London, Scotland. The masses of black had many textures: silk, cotton, wool. Some was shiny, some was dull. But it was all black. The elder two Lady Granthams, both Dowager Countesses now, sat in the front as the chief mourners in the Downton chapel. Lady Mary Crawley, herself the Countess of Grantham now, sat between her mother and husband. Beside them sat Lady Edith Strallan, a widow herself for some years. Last in the front row, were Lady Sybil Branson and her husband, who was still whispered about by certain people close enough to the family to have heard certain stories but not close enough to know their accuracy._

 _The service ended with a minimum of tears, as Anglican services are apt to do, and the mourners gathered at the main house. The new Lady Grantham gave her sister Edith's hand a squeeze in a rare show of affection._

" _Did Michael mind very much, not sitting with you in the chapel?" Mary asked._

 _Edith shook her head slightly. "No, he understands. The churchmen can be so unbendable." Edith knew this more than any other Crawley. Michael Gregson was occupying the Dowager. He had a look on his face similar to that which Matthew and Tom had years earlier when under interrogation. One of the children might have to be sent in soon for a distraction._

 _Looking across the drawing room, which had not been so populated since the war, Mary spotted Sybil in a chair talking to one of the tenant farmers. The man who seemed to be in middle age, was bending his elbow as though making a display. Approaching, Mary could see the tired look on her youngest sister's face._

" _Hello Your Ladyship, I am so sorry for your loss," the tenant said upon seeing her._

 _Mary nodded her thanks._

" _I suppose I was taking advantage of Dr. Branson's attention to ask her what I might do about a pain in my elbow." He attempted a laugh but quickly realized this was not the time._

 _The new Earl had relieved the nanny and put the children to bed himself. Mary had joked that Matthew was not accustomed to Downton's ways even after 14 years, pretending she did not understand her husband's need for an escape. The first week as Lord Grantham was tiring. Tom and MIchael both turned in early as well. Hours after the guests had gone, the Crawley sisters sat in the library. It was nothing they had not done before, but now it somehow felt very grown up._

 _Sybil began chuckling in spite of herself. Both her sisters raise their eyebrows._

" _Please share," Edith said._

" _Oh no, it's nothing," Sybil waved it off._

" _Clearly not," pushed Mary._

 _Sybil took a drink from her glass of scotch, which they had each poured from their father's cabinet. "When I was sitting with Papa the other night, so that Mama could get some sleep, he said to me "You know, I am very fond of Tom."_


	15. An Awkward Lunch

_Lunch at Crawley House._

Isobel: What did you say to that editor who wanted you to write for him?

Edith: I haven't said anything, not yet. It's probably too late now, anyway.

Isobel: Matthew tells me Robert was against it.

Cora: What difference does that make?

Violet: _My dear-_

Cora: We're all family. I'm not letting the side down. I'm just saying that Robert frequently makes decisions based on values that have no relevance any more.

Edith: Do you think I should do it?

Isobel: _I can't say what you should do-_

Mary: Well, I do. And so does Matthew.

 _Robert walks in._

Robert: And so does Matthew what? What else has Matthew decided for my family?

Isobel: Robert-

Robert: Don't worry. I don't need to be fed. We're going. All of you. Now. This is completely astonishing.

Cora: What are you talking about?

Robert: Do you know who has prepared this luncheon for you?

Cora: Yes, Ethel. Our former housemaid.

Robert: Who bore a bastard child.

Violet: _Oh my._

Cora: Robert, Ethel has rebuilt her life-

Robert: Has she? Do you know what she's built it into?

Mary: What do you mean?

Isobel: I think Cousin Robert is referring to Ethel's work as a prostitute.

Violet: Well, of course, these days servants are very hard to find.

Isobel: I don't think you understand the difficulties she's had to face-

 _*(Perhaps men who haven't been hungry a day in their lives should shut the fuck up about how starving women feed themselves.)_

Robert: I couldn't care less how she earns her living.

 _*(That is blatantly obvious. Hardships are only legitimate if you have dick.)_

Robert: Good luck to her. What I care about is that you have exposed my family to scandal!

 _*(These people are apparently terrified of scandal but no once as anyone ever explained what the consequences would actually be.)_

Isobel: But who would know?

Robert: I can't tell you how people find these things, but they do. Your gardener, your kitchen maid, your…

 _Ethel walks in._

 _Violet: It seems hard to believe but then I suppose we all have costumes for every activity._

Robert: We're leaving.

Ethel: Is this because of me m'lord?

Cora: No. It's because of his lordship. And we are not leaving. Is that a Charlotte Russe? How delicious.

Ethel: I hope it's tasty, m'lady. Mrs. Patmore gave me some help…

Cora: I'm glad to know Mrs Patmore has a good heart, and does not judge.

Robert: Is anyone coming?

Violet: It seems a pity to miss such a good pudding.

 _Carson and Mrs. Hughes talking about Robert interrupting lunch and the women not leaving._

Mrs. Hughes: ….Perhaps the world is becoming a kinder place.

Carson: You say 'kinder'. I say weaker and less disciplined.

Mrs. Hughes: Well, if her ladyship is prepared to visit Crawley House, I dare say you won't object when I do.

Carson: I won't forbid it because I have no right to do so, but I do object. With every fibre of my being.

Mrs. Hughes: Then we must agree to differ.

Carson: If we must, we must, but you disappoint me. I never thought of you as a woman with no standards.

 _Mrs. Hughes: There is dignity in compassion, Mr. Carson. You are not the only one of us who is disappointed._

 _*(I just want to make it clear that I love Carson, but this needed to be said.)_


	16. Small Scenes

_In the Highlands:_

 _Mary and Matthew talking about Gregson._

Matthew: _You know you can admit that you'd like to see Edith happy? I won't judge you._

 _Downton:_

 _Thomas gets his ass kicked. Sybil goes to the hospital with him to stitch him up._

 _Village Hospital_

 _Sybil: So, would you like to share the story, Thomas?_

 _Thomas: Not particularly m'lady._

 _Sybil: That's Nurse Branson._

 _Thomas: I still think of you as Nurse Crawley._

 _Sybil: Well, if you can keep a secret, I might not be 'Nurse' Branson forever._

 _First hint of Sybil's plans to attend medical school._

 _Thomas: I'll keep 'your' secrets m'lady._

 _Moment of silence._

 _Thomas: Actually, secrets are what I've always collected, rather than friends. I found myself in a bit of a bankrupt position now._

 _Sybil: I'm your friend, you stupid ass._

 _Drawing Room:_

 _Mrs. Hughes finds Carson holding baby Sybbie._

Carson: I was thinking about how similar she is to Lady Sybil when she was this age.

Mrs. Hughes: _Ha, I've known you had a sentimental side. Soon enough we'll be able to see if Lady Mary's bairn favors its mother as much._

 _Carson gets a subtle worried look on his face._

 _Highlands:_

 _Edith with Michael Gregson:_

Edith: This is not our last evening.

Gregson: Isn't it?

Edith: _When I was growing up, my father thought I was too plain to attract a worthy husband (or really, a worthy son-in-law for himself), and then when I met my husband, my father and sister thought he was too dull for her and too old for me. They were wrong, and I was happy. The only blessing you need to see me, is my own._

 _Later in the evening:_

 _Mary approaches Gregson:_

 _Mary: If we are going to be seeing more of you, I'm going to tell you a secret. I would take a bullet for my sisters, either of them. In Edith's case, that's provided I'm not the one who fired it. But the sentiment stands._

 _Gregson isn't sure how to respond._

 _Gregson: I...alright._

 _Mary: I understand that you know loss, the same as she does. So, I expect you to be good to her._

 _Gregson: I hope to meet your expectations, Lady Mary._

 _Mary: Well, good luck. They are high._


	17. Dinner

*There isn't a lot of original dialogue here, basically just the dinner scene where Robert has invited Reverand Travis over to convince Tom to have Sybbie raised as an Anglican. As usual, my own alterations are in italics.

Sybil has just recently been given medical clearence to walk about the house and eat with the family.

 _Dinner with Reverend Travis:_

Travis: Isn't there something rather un-English about the Roman Church?

Tom: Since I am an Irishman, that's not likely to bother me.

Travis: I cannot feel bells and incense and all the rest of the pagan folderol is pleasing to God.

Tom: I see. So, is He not pleased by the population of France? Or Italy?

Travis: Not as pleased as He is by the worship of the Anglicans, no.

 _Sybil: Why? Have you asked Him?_

Edith: South America? Portugal? Have they missed the mark too?

Travis: I do not mean to sound harsh. I'm sure there are many individuals in those lands who please Him.

Matthew: And the Russians? And the Spanish?

Travis: There must be many good Spaniards.

Matthew: And we haven't even started on the non-Christians. There's the whole Indian sub-continent to begin.

Isobel: And the British Empire. Does He approve of that?

Travis: If you mean does He approve of the expansion of the Christian message, then yes, I think He does.

Robert: And so do I. Poor Mr. Travis. You're all ganging up on him.

Mary: Well, you and Granny are ganging up on Tom.

Violet: Not me. The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk is a dear friend of mine, and she's more Catholic than the Pope.

Robert: I simply do not think that it would help the baby to be baptized into a different tribe from this one.

Tom: She will be baptized into my tribe.

Robert: Am I the only one to stand up for Sybil? What about her wishes?

 _He says with no irony whatsoever._

 _Sybil: I'm am sitting right here Papa. I_ will be happy for the child to be a Catholic.

Robert: I'm flabbergasted.

 _Sybil_ : You're always flabbergasted by the unconventional.

Robert: But in a family like this one-

Cora: Not everyone chooses their religion to satisfy Debrett's. _Or their physician._

 _*Sybil goes upstairs immediately after dinner. Robert attempts to talk to her. Sybil has been trying to stay calm but reaches her limit. She interrupts Robert,_

 _Robert: Sybil, please try to be reasonable -_

 _Sybil cuts him off._

 _Sybil:_ _Oh do you ever just shut up?!_

 _Her voice can be heard down several hallways. Somewhere in the house, Thomas Barrow smirks._

 _Sybil: How many disasters is it going to take for you to learn that you need to just shut up?!"_

 _Bases I would like to cover: the Granthams absence from Sybil's wedding, Robert's hand in almost killing her, shitting on Edith's ambitions,etc._

 _Robert: I want what is best for my children._

 _Sybil: What would you call your absence from my wedding? Peaceful protest? As far as sticking up for me and my wishes, you of all people should never presume to speak for me._

 _Robert: Sybil, please, I love you-_

 _Sybil: So people keep telling me. But love isn't enough. I need respect. And after everything that's happened, I believe that you are unwilling to give it._


	18. Chapter 18

_Afterwards, when the police had come and gone, their statements taken, and Green taken away, Thomas was smoking against the wall of the servants' hallway. The rest of the staff had begrudgingly followed Carson's orders to go to bed. Thomas' shoulder was sore from where Dr. Clarkson had stitched it up. The door between the men's and women's sides opened and Anna Bates stepped through._

 _"I'd ask you for one of those if I didn't know they made me cough like a consumptive," she said, tilting her head towards his cigarette._

 _Thomas smirked. "It's been quite an evening. What with Dame Nellie and all."_

 _Anna let out a laugh that partly as dry sob._

 _"It seems trite to say after something...like that," Anna spoke, "but thank you."_

 _"It does seem trite. But you're welcome." Thomas took another long drag, releasing the smoke towards the plain wood ceiling._

 _He was silent a moment. "It's fitting really, that the worst thing most people could imagine doing is likely the best thing I'll ever do."_

 _Several Hours Earlier:_

 _Thomas Barrow certainly never set out to be a hero. If anything, quite the opposite. But he did have an impeccable sense of timing, or timing had an impeccable sense about him._

 _Barrow could still hear Dame Nellie's voice resounding from the Great Hall when he took a turn off the servants' stairs and to find Mr. Green, Gillingham's valet, with his arm gripped around Anna Bates', their feet fighting to go in opposite directions. Had the concert not been happening upstairs, those above certainly would have heard the commotion that followed._

 _It wasn't the first fight Thomas Barrow had been in in the servants' hall, but it was the first that he could claim to be the innocent party. Depending on one's definition of "innocent" in the legal and moral contexts. Distracted by Barrow's arms around his neck, Mr. Green let go of Anna. Scurrying away, she headed for the stairs. A howl made her turn her back. Barrow had blood running down one arm, red blooming outward covering the shoulder of his white pressed footman's shirt._

 _Who pushed the knife into Mr. Green was a matter of debate for some time. But the one to grab it from the cutting board was Anna and she was the one to slash into his leg. She would tell her husband later that she had felt very weak, but at the same time incredibly strong, as the ligaments and tendons gave way to the boning knife. From there, once Green was on the floor, Anna and Barrow could not say exactly what their own movements were. Though the police inspector did inform them both their fingerprints were on the handle._

 _Historical Note: Fingerprints were first used in crime investigations in 1892 in Argentina._


	19. Chapter 19

_Late July 1918_

 _Tom Branson was not particularly devout. His Catholicism was an intrinsic part of his Irishness, stitched into the lining of his childhood along with his mother's cooking and his brothers' whistling._

 _He took the bus to Ripon on his half-day off. The papers had only reported the death of the Tsar. The welfare of the empress, the four grand duchesses, and the young tsarevitch were not mentioned. It was safe to assume they had met a fate similar to their husband and father. Tom remembered their faces in faded black and white ink, the four sisters in simple white dresses, reminding Tom of Sybil and her sisters at the garden party the day the war was announced. The tsarevitch sat on the end, still very much a boy but serious in expression. Just a boy. Tom's words came back to him, "Give them a little a credit. They won't want to start the new world by killing a bunch of young girls."_

 _The bus came to a stop and Tom disembarked, walking the last four blocks. The Catholic church in Ripon was not so different from the one he had attended in Dublin. Though unlike the Sundays of his childhood, today he was alone. He'd made sure to arrive after the morning mass and before the afternoon. Making his way up the front of the aisle, Tom picked up the lit candle in front of the altar. He had not come to pray, for it seemed pointless to put something into words for which no words existed. An attempt would be hypocrisy._

 _He lit five candles for the children first, lingering over the candles muttered Olga and Tatiana, the eldest daughters who worked as Red Cross nurses. Then he lit two more for the mother and father. Tom had read in a article early in the war that the imperial family had taken war work to heart, it being among the strongest traits of the 'noblesse oblige.' The empress had instructed her daughters' supervisors to not give them any special treatment. The grand duchesses rose early, bathed in cold water, and by all accounts, worked their fingers raw without complaint. Tom thought of Her Ladyship threatening to confront over Sybil's working hours. He smiled sadly. The Countess of Grantham was a good woman, but even the war apparently could not make her see her youngest daughter as an adult._

 _Tom made raised his hand to make the sign of the cross, but let it fall. He turned, walked back down the aisle, and made the walk back to the bus stop that would take him back to Downton._


	20. Chapter 20

These are just some passages that I'm trying out. They reflect different parts of the story and I'd love to get feedback on the how the prose feels.

 _It is a mistake to think that death is sudden. Certainly there are exceptions to this: the milkman stepping too soon off a curb on his daily rounds and walking into a bus; the walker coming upon a surprise break in a cliff road. But for most, death is a slow dance. The final act one calls "dying" really just the tip of the iceberg, if one may forgive such an "on the nose" metaphor for this particular story. Our exit usually comes about as slowly as our entry, the body breaking down over months in reversal of how it was built up. One just need to ask a certain Turkish gentleman who had been a guest at the Abbey before the war, or at least, you would like to if he weren't dead. That had seemed very sudden, but really it had been a lifetime coming, starting in the young man's blood before he even entered the world, having haunted his father and grandfather before him. And like the handsome Turk, the Earl of Grantham's illness had been coming after him silently for some time._

 _A bout of indigestion after the Servant's Ball was not a cause of great concern for a man of the Earl's age. Nor was some tiredness before dinner through the winter months. The sudden splash of blood coughed from the mouth onto the cream colored tablecloth definitely caught everyone off guard._

 _Day of Duke of Crowbourgh's visit:_

 _*I changed the dialogue here because the original lines made Cora look unkind to the point of ignorance._

 _The scene is after O'Brien trips Bates during the arrival of the Duke of Crowbourgh._

 _Cora and Robert's Bedroom:_

Cora: _It's a pity Bates had that spill. I hope he wasn't too embarrassed._

 _Robert: Why should he be embarrassed?_

 _Cora: Robert, don't try to catch me out._

 _Robert's Thoughts:_

 _It gladdened him to see Bates. After a decade of thoughts kept to himself, Robert Crawley was happy to have someone in the house who had the same pictures in his mind. They were terrible things to describe, the bony children, the men with limbs mangled. No description or explanation needed with Bates. Carson was being a bit silly about Bates' cane. The man was certainly no invalid and was capable of carrying his own luggage. He would acclimate just fine._

 _Having a new valet was always so awkward at first. It wasn't something like a footman or chauffeur. A valet helped one into one's clothing for god's sake. He had sat in ditches with John Bates, their uniforms spattered with mud and blood belonging to their friends. It reminded him of younger days. Yes, John Bates always made him feel better._

 _Mary's First Time:_

 _All in all, it had been quite nice...until a certain point. The gentleman had obviously done this before and made a good lead in the dance. Lady Mary was feeling quite carefree when she put her hand on his shoulder and went to whisper in his ear. The feeling soon fled when she noticed his eyes were open, but unblinking._

 _She tried everything, turning him over, slapping him on the back, feeling his neck for a pulse as she had seen Dr. Clarkson do to her sister Edith when she had bronchitis several years before. But nothing pulsed beneath the young man's skin._

" _I've killed him," she thought before dismissing the idea as ridiculous. "He'd had a condition surely. He robust appearance had only been a mask of health." Not that it mattered now._


	21. Chapter 21

_Note: As usual, italics are mine and regular script is from canon. Some of this I've posted before but I want to get a feel for the sequence of events._

 _It is difficult to pinpoint where things started going wrong. Even more difficult to determine when they should have known. To be fair, it happened quickly. Sybil was always a healthy child, perhaps too much so, to the frustration of her childhood nanny, who could never get the young lady to sit and play quietly with her sisters. Only a handful of days earlier, Dr. Clarkson had made a visit and declared Sybil to be a healthy mother-to-be._

 _Sybil and Tom's Room:_

Tom: ...there might be an opening there. It'd mean _still_ working with cars -

Sybil: _I won't have you give up what you've worked for._ You must promise me that. *

 _She has another contraction._

Tom: God. I wish there was something I could do.

Sybil: Just be here. You don't have to talk, you know...We can just lie back and look at the stars.

 _*Tom should work as a mechanic in addition to writing while he and Sybil are in Ireland. The ease of transitioning from chauffeur to journalist (and then later with Edith) cheapens the accomplishment._

 _A Few Hours Later:_

 _Sybil's labor is progressed so that she starts to push. Cora is in the room and notices Sybil seems 'off'. She tells Tom and they call Clarkson._

 _Robert: I just don't see the point of bringing Clarkson out to the house in the middle of the night._

Matthew: But we must listen to what he (Clarkson) has to say.

Violet: I quite agree.

Robert: I don't want to hurt Sir Philip's feelings.

 _Unfuckingbelievable_

Violet: If there's one thing that I am quite indifferent to, it's Sir Philip Tapsell's feelings.

 _Sybil's Room_

 _Clarkson and Cora walk in. Clarkson wants to run a urine test and Cora tells Tapsell to just do it._

Sybil: Am I on duty Dr. Clarkson?

Clarkson: What?

Sybil: Only, I swear I'm not on duty, otherwise I wouldn't be lying here.

Clarkson: No, you're not on duty.

 _Clarkson: Mr. Branson, may we talk for a moment?_

 _They go into the hallway._

 _Clarkson: I must share my concerns…_

 _Drifting in and out of lucidity, Sybil says yes to the magnesium sulfate treatment (anticonvulsant) and Tom agrees._

 _Tapsell and Robert walk up to Tom and Clarkson in the hallway._

Robert: I think we must support Sir Philip in this.

Mary: But it's not your decision! _Sybil and Tom want to take Dr. Clarkson's advice._

Robert: Tom has not hired Sir Philip. He is not master here, I will not put Sybil at risk on a whim. If you are sure, Sir Philip?

 _Tom: Well perhaps we can move this conversation to the nearest public road?_

 _Clarkson: This is not a whim! Lord Grantham, I'm afraid you are not realizing the seriousness of this situation!_

Tapsell: I am quite, quite certain.

Cora: You are being ridiculous.

 _"_ _Robert is shocked" because he's an ignorant asshole._

Violet: Don't look at me. Cora is right. The decision lies with the chauffeur.

 _Clarkson goes back into Sybil's room and she soon delivers._ _Clarkson continues to monitor Sybil._

 _Later in the night:_

 _Mary wakes up Cora and Robert. Sybil is having an attack, hallucinating that's she on duty during the war. She starts to have a seizure._

Robert: What the Hell is going on? Sir Philip?

Tapsell: I'm afraid it looks very much as if...if…

Cora: It looks as if what?

Clarkson: This is eclampsia.

 _Sybil starts choking._

Robert: But it cannot be? Sir Philip? You were so sure.

Tapsell: Human life is unpredictable.

 _Wow._

Robert: But you were so sure.

 _Beware those selling certainty or you will be well deceived._

 _Clarkson: Mr. Branson, Your Ladyship, take hold of her arms please._

 _Clarkson continues the drug treatments and Sybil is stabilized. (I haven't decided if they should take her to the hospital or keep her at the house to lower chance of infection.)_

 _Note: Sample from future chapter, Cora and Robert are discussing Tom. Sybil is still unconscious._

 _Cora: He might never be your son Robert. But he will by mine._

 _Days_ _Later, When Sybil has woken up:_

 _Sybil: There's something I'm confused about._

 _Mary: What's that?_

 _Sybil: I don't remember Dr. Clarkson being at the house when my labors started but he was the one who brought me here. I heard Dr. Clarkson say something to the nurse about it being trouble getting me here._

 _Mary is quiet._

 _Sybil: He said there was a dispute over "who the master was." What did he mean by that?_

 _Mary: There was some confusion about what should be done. We were all so worried for you._

 _Sybil: But when Dr. Clarkson said I was in danger, why was there such delay?_

 _Mary: Tapsell was very adamant that you should be kept at the house. That Clarkson was concerned about nothing._

 _Sybil: I don't see Tom being swayed by a brush off from some posh doctor from Harley Street._

 _Mary is silent again._

 _Sybil: Papa -_

 _Mary: Darling, you've had a terrible ordeal. Don't upset yourself -_

 _Sybil: Did he browbeat Tom into ignoring Clarkson?_

 _Sybil is starting to breath faster now._

 _Mary: No, Tom was so worried for you. We all -_

 _Sybil: So, Papa wanted to ignore Clarkson and Tom? After being told I might die?_

 _Mary: I don't think anyone was thinking clearly -_

 _Sybil: I think everyone was thinking clearly! I think Papa didn't want to defer to a former servant. I think he was impressed by the "Sir" in front of Tapsell's name._


	22. Two Short Scenes

_1918- William's death and Matthew's injury (known to be temporary because him jumping out of the chair was beyond stupid) Maybe instead of spinal injury, one or both of his legs is badly broken and it's not clear whether he will heal._

 _Mary standing next to Matthew's bed after he has been brought to the village hospital:_

 _Lady Mary Crawley had never given much thought to the sound of bones. They were just one of those things that one didn't notice until there was something wrong, like when a gear of an engine was out of place. Which is what happened to be the problem with several bones belonging to Captain Matthew Crawley. He was lucky to not have stepped on the shell or breathed in the gas that fogged the air. But that was where his luck ended. Both the captain's legs were in several more pieces than they had started out with, and the field surgeon could only do so much to place them back. Now over a week later, Matthew thought that perhaps that he had not been taken back to Downton at all but was in some sort of prison camp under the supervision of a German torturer. Opening his eyes for a moment, he found that it was his young cousin and the local hospital doctor inflicting his latest agony. It was enough time to catch a glimpse of his other cousin, Mary standing next to his bed. The look on her face was one of apprehension, which he noticed even through his morphine-laced haze._

 _William's death:_

 _William is in bed at Downton. Conversation between him and Daisy starts off as in canon. William says he wants to marry her and ensure she'll get soldier's pension. Daisy asks William to marry Ethel instead. He'll leave a grandchild for his father. William hesitantly agrees._

 _Does Carson walk Ethel down the 'aisle' like he did for Daisy?_

 _Ethel probably doesn't name her kid after the dick who abandoned her. He'll probably be called Billy after William._

 _The wedding was a short service, almost as short as the marriage. The overbearing sadness of the event tempered the awkwardness. And awkward it certainly was, with the groom laying in his flower garland-strewn deathbed, the new Mrs. Mason casting glances between her newly acquainted father-in-law and the girl who had offered up her spot as the bride._

 _Ethel certainly would never have wished this on William, but it couldn't be denied that it was to her benefit. She would not have become a wedded woman if poor William weren't dying. Ethel had a terrible image of herself dressed in threadbare linens, scrubbing the floor of some workhouse while her child screamed in the corner. She would repay William for his kindness. She would help Mr. Mason keep-up his house, manage his garden, weed the place up until her labors started if she needed to._


	23. Chapter 23

_Before Lavinia falls ill, she confronts Matthew about still being in love with Mary:_

 _Lavinia: Please just say it. Say it before I do._

 _Matthew: I'm sorry. I never thought I'd be this sort of man to do something like this._

 _Lavinia: Matthew, I have had many people in my life treat me as though I were weak or stupid. I am neither. I'm only asking you for honesty and I assure you, while I may not like it, I can handle it._

 _Lavinia falls ill and Matthew stays with her through the night. Her fever begins to go down in the early morning._

 _while in bed:_

 _Lavinia: I'm going._

 _Matthew: Don't be silly you're not going anywhere. I'll make sure you get well._

 _Lavinia: No, I mean I'm going back to London. Please let's not argue, I'm too tired._

 _Funeral for victims of flu:_

 _Mary awkwardly tries to comfort Edith by Anthony's plot while Sybil and Tom watch Edith's son._

 _Crawley House Driveway:_

 _When leaving Downton after recovering from the flu:_

 _Lavinia: Please give my condolences to Edith. And tell her how sorry I am to not have attended the service. Dr. Clarkson was adamant that I not tire myself._

 _Matthew: Oh, she understands. Please don't worry over it._

 _Lavinia: Take care of yourself Matthew. I hate to think of you out here in the country and unhappy like a character in a Bronte novel._

 _Matthew: Nothing I don't have coming to me. I am the architect of my own unhappiness._

 _Lavinia: None but the very worst deserve unhappiness, and I think that neither of us is that. We've got some happiness coming our separate ways don't we Matthew?_

 _With that, she smiled and climbed into the waiting car. Lavinia Swire waved to him once before the car turned in the Downton driveway, and that was that._


End file.
